Search

I had a request for cookie recipes. You know who you are! This is the first in what I hope will be many cookie posts leading up to the holidays. When we were little we made spritz butter cookies with my Mom every Christmas. We would cover them in rainbow sprinkles and colored sugars and have a hard time not eating them all before the holidays. These cookies were made with those little cookies in mind. They are buttery and crumbly and feel like a holiday treat. The dough is simple and versatile – an easy way to showcase multiple flavors without a lot of extra work.

I used three fillings: raspberry jam, lemon curd and dark chocolate chips. I rolled half in toasted almonds that had been finely chopped. The choices of fillings are vast – peanut butter, orange, lime or grapefruit curd, most any jam or jelly you have on hand, fig preserves would be great, almond paste, cream cheese, milk or white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips. You can roll the cookies in any toasted, finely chopped nut you like, pistachio, pecans or cashews. Shredded coconut would be good as well.

Thumbprint Cookies – Makes approximately 3 dozen small cookies

1 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 large egg yolks (reserve the whites if you are going to roll the cookies in nuts)

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or citrus zest.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre heat oven to 350°.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks one at a time, scrape down the bowl in-between additions. Add vanilla/zest and salt. Mix well. Add flour, 1/3 at a time, mixing well and scraping the bowl down between additions. Mix until combined and a dough starts to form.

Form into logs and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until the dough is firm.

Remove from the fridge and divide into even pieces (1/2 oz each) and roll into balls. Place on cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. If you are going to roll in nuts, dip the cookie in egg whites and roll into chopped nuts. Make indentations using the back of a teaspoon. Add the filling of your choice – fill about 3/4 up the side of the indention to prevent the filling from bubbling up and over the sides. Bake for 12 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are golden brown.

Email Subscription

Featured Posts

Nancy’s daughter and Leo’s aunt Ashley is expecting a little one this summer. This cake has a lot of firsts: my first stacked cake, my first time making fondant flowers, my first fondant covered Rice Krispie treat figures. The cake is based loosely on the nursery bedding – a charming quilted pattern of owls and […]

My birthday was almost a month ago. 30 days to celebrate turning 30. Every weekend for the past 4 weeks or so has had a portion of a day dedicated to celebrating with different friends and family, in Cayman and here in Philadelphia. Dinners, balloons and champagne. A gloriously massive chocolate cake with chocolate […]

This cake was for one of my favorite friends. The incredibly chic mom of the coolest kid in Philadelphia. Lemon Ricotta Cake with Lemon Curd and Vanilla Buttercream. The cake is based on Giada De Laurentiis’ Orange Ricotta Pound Cake.

I have a confession: I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars movies. I don’t really know why. We watched a lot of musicals in our house. Is that an explanation or just another strange confession? Couple that fact with the reality that this was my first large custom cookie order and I had a […]

This buttercream served as the filling and topping for the Obey Giant Cake post from earlier today. My Mom has been marching around my mind lately, in addition to adoring chickpeas, she love, love, loves chocolate malt balls. I should just call this recipe Lori’s Buttercream. The addition of crushed chocolate malt balls seals the […]